1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a carrier for use with molded articles and more particularly, to a new and improved reusable carrier on which are releasably mounted small molded articles, such as modular telephone receptacles or jacks. The present invention also relates to the method of manufacturing, handling and/or installing small molded articles by utilizing a carrier on which such articles are releasably mounted so that the manufacturing, handling or installation of such articles may be automated and/or may be accomplished using robotics.
2. Description of the Prior Art
One type of small molded article is a modular electrical connector generally known as a modular telephone receptacle or jack. Modular jacks have been used in the telecommunications industry in interconnecting telephone components and as a wall receptacle to connect telephone equipment to telephone cables. These jacks also have been widely used for connecting telephone equipment to a telephone network or as an input/output (I/O) interface for communication peripheral equipment.
The modular jacks are adapted to receive a conventional modular plug. The plug is typically attached to an end of a cable containing a plurality of insulated conductors and may include contacts which pierce the insulation surrounding the conductors so as to couple each of the conductors to an individual contact. In order for the modular telephone jack to receive a modular plug, the jack is molded with a plug receiving opening at one end of a housing, which opening communicates into a plug receiving cavity formed in the housing.
In the case of what is known as a right angle modular telephone jack, the jack has its plug receiving opening at its front end and has opposed top and bottom walls joined by opposed side walls extending from the front end or plug receiving opening to a back or rear wall. A plurality of stamped, metallic elongated conductors are mounted in the housing. Each conductor includes a contact or spring contact portion at one end extending into the plug receiving cavity, a lead or tail portion at the other end normally extending out from the bottom wall of the modular jack housing and an intermediate portion interconnecting the contact and lead portions. The lead or tail portion may be designed so that when the bottom wall of the jack is mounted on a printed circuit board, the tail portion extends through holes in the printed circuit board such that the receptacle contacts are coupled to electrical circuits on the printed circuit board. When the plug is inserted in the plug receiving cavity of the receptacle housing, the plug contacts slidingly mate with the spring contact portions of the receptacle contacts such that the plug and receptacle form a interface between the conductors in the cable attached to the plug and the circuits on the printed circuit board.
It is advantageous to form the metallic conductors from a flat metal stock. In this manner, a plurality of conductors can be stamped at one time. Two examples of modular telephone jacks employing flat stamped metallic conductors are U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,292,736 and 4,315,644. Another patent disclosing the use of such contacts in modular telephone jacks is U.S. Pat. No. 4,618,207, which patent is assigned to the assignee of record of the present invention. In order to assemble the metallic conductors to the housing, the housing is transported to and positioned at a work station of an assembly machine. Thereafter, the assembled jacks are shipped to a user of such jacks. In the past, the shipment of the jacks was accomplished by placing the assembled jacks on a tray or into shipping tubes.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,541,174, receptacle housings are maintained in proper spatial relationship to each other during the assembling of the conductors to the receptacle housing by plastic spacers interconnecting adjacent housings. After the conductors are installed in the housing, the spacers must be broken to separate the jacks into individual components. This procedure not only requires the spacers to be broken after the conductors are installed, but also requires groups of housings to be molded together so as to be joined by the spacers. In producing other types of products, integrally molded plastic strips are used to facilitate assembly operations. For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,431,548 and 4,149,768 disclose molding housings to a plastic carrier strip.
As can be appreciated, the use of an integrally molded spacer, such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,541,174, or the use of an integrally molded carrier strip, such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,431,548 and 4,149,768, requires the spacer or carrier strip to be molded with the article and additionally, necessitates the breaking or severing of the spacer or carrier strip from the article before the article can be shipped or used. Moreover, since the spacer or carrier strip must be broken, the spacer or carrier strip cannot be reused and the article cannot be readily installed by robots.